", and recover of degraded pastures. In August 2017, Brazilian president Michel Temer abolished an Amazonian nature reserve the size of Denmark in Brazil's northern states of Pará and Amapá. Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest The cattle sector of the Brazilian Amazon, incentivized by the international beef and leather trades, has been responsible for about 80% of all deforestation in the region, or about 14% of the world's total annual deforestation, making it the world's largest single driver of deforestation. By 2017, 20% of land forested before 1970 in the Amazon had been deforested, and 90% of that been converted"
"Amazon basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or roughly 40 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela. Most of the basin is covered by the Amazon Rainforest, also known as Amazonia. With a area of dense tropical forest, this is the largest rainforest in the world. The Amazon River rises in the Andes Mountains at the west of the basin with its main"
"Amazon basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or roughly 40 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela. Most of the basin is covered by the Amazon Rainforest, also known as Amazonia. With a area of dense tropical forest, this is the largest rainforest in the world. The Amazon River rises in the Andes Mountains at the west of the basin with its main"
"Amazon River The Amazon River (, ; Spanish and ) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and by some definitions it is the longest. The headwaters of the Apurímac River on Nevado Mismi had been considered for nearly a century as the Amazon's most distant source, until a 2014 study found it to be the Cordillera Rumi Cruz at the headwaters of the Mantaro River in Peru. The Mantaro and Apurímac join, and with other tributaries form the Ucayali River, which in turn meets the Marañón River upstream of Iquitos, Peru,"
"to form what countries other than Brazil consider to be the main stem of the Amazon. Brazilians call this section the Solimões River above its confluence with the Rio Negro to form what Brazilians call the Amazon at the Meeting of Waters () at Manaus, the river's largest city. At an average discharge of about —approximately , greater than the next seven largest independent rivers combined—the Amazon represents 20% of the global riverine discharge to the ocean. The Amazon basin is the largest drainage basin in the world, with an area of approximately . The portion of the river's drainage"
"their own on the main river as well as on many of its tributaries. On 31 July 1867 the government of Brazil, constantly pressed by the maritime powers and by the countries encircling the upper Amazon basin, especially Peru, decreed the opening of the Amazon to all countries, but they limited this to certain defined points: Tabatinga – on the Amazon; Cametá – on the Tocantins; Santarém – on the Tapajós; Borba – on the Madeira, and Manaus – on the Rio Negro. The Brazilian decree took effect on 7 September 1867. Thanks in part to the mercantile development associated"
"Amazon River as its northern limit, and extends to Maranhão state on the Atlantic coast; in the west, specifically northwest, it is limited eastwards by the lower reaches of the Rio Negro but extends westward towards the eastern Andes foothills. Its range largely skips the Andean cordillera – though it is found in some lower-lying ranges, like the Serranía de las Quinchas in Colombia – and continues west of the Andes into southern Central America to Nicaragua and Honduras. Its natural habitats are subtropical and tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical and tropical moist montane forests; while it requires woodland"
"Amazon Basin (sedimentary basin) The Amazon Basin is a major large sedimentary basin located roughly at the middle and lower course of the Amazon River, south the Guiana Shield and north of the Central Brazilian Shield. It is bound to the west by the Púrus Arch, separating the Amazon Basin from the Solimões Basin and in the east by the Gurupá Arch, separating the basin from the Marajó Basin. The basin developed on a rift that originated possibly about 550 million years ago during the Cambrian. Parts of the rift were reactivated during the opening of the South Atlantic. The"
"Amazon River. The mouth is located about 380 km east (downstream on the Solimões) of Manaus. The three towns on the river's lower reaches (Terra Santa, Nhamundá, and Faro) are accessible only by boat by boat. Nhamundá River Nhamundá River or Jamundá River (Yamundá River in Spanish) is a river in northern Brazil, which marks part of the northeastern boundary between states of Amazonas and Pará. The 300 km long Nhamundá river originates in the plateau ""Serra do Jatapu"" near the division of the Brazilian States of Roraima, Amazonas and Pará, from there it flows down, forming the natural division"
"Amazon rainforest The Amazon rainforest (Portuguese: ' or '; , ' or usually '; ; ), also known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin encompasses , of which are covered by the rainforest. This region includes territory belonging to nine nations. The majority of the forest is contained within Brazil, with 60% of the rainforest, followed by Peru with 13%, Colombia with 10%, and with minor amounts in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. States"
"from the city of Iquitos, Peru, the Amazon divides into the Marañón and the Ucayali Rivers. The Marañón is the shorter of the two rivers but has the largest flow. The two most distant tributaries from the mouth of the Amazon are the Ucayali tributaries, the Apurimac and Mantaro Rivers. The Marañón, Apurimac, and Mantaro rivers originate in the high Andes of Peru at elevations of more than above sea level. All three have been claimed as the source of the Amazon. The Maraňón can claim to be the mainstream source of the Amazon, but the Ucayali and its tributaries"
"Amazonas (Brazilian state) Amazonas () is a state of Brazil, located in the North Region in the northwestern corner of the country. It is the largest Brazilian state by area and the 9th largest country subdivision in the world, and is greater than the areas of Uruguay, Paraguay, and Chile combined. Mostly located in the Southern Hemisphere, it is the third largest country subdivision in the Southern Hemisphere after the Australian states of Western Australia and Queensland. It would be the sixteenth largest country in land area, slightly larger than Mongolia. It is larger than the whole of the Northeast"
"Amazonas Department Department of Amazonas (, ) is a department of Colombia in the south of the country. It is the largest department in area while also having the 3rd smallest population. Its capital is Leticia. Its name comes from the Amazon River which drains the department. The department name comes from the name of the Amazon River. The river was named by the Spanish explorer Francisco de Orellana (1511 - 1546), who, on his voyage of exploration, said he was attacked by ""fierce females"" looked like Amazons of the Greek mythology, however, the existence of a female warrior tribe"
"Macapá Macapá is a city in Brazil, population 397,913 (2010 census). It is the capital of Amapá state in the country's North Region. It is located on the northern channel of the Amazon River near its mouth on the Atlantic Ocean. The city is on a small plateau on the Amazon in the southeast of the state of Amapá. The only access by road from outside the province is from French Guiana, although there are regular ferries to Belem, Brazil. Macapá is linked by road with some other cities in Amapá. The equator runs through the middle of the city,"
"in South America. Brazil has one of the world's most extensive river systems, with eight major drainage basins, all of which drain into the Atlantic Ocean. Two of these basins — the Amazon and Tocantins-Araguaia account for more than half the total drainage area. The largest river system in Brazil is the Amazon, which originates in the Andes and receives tributaries from a basin that covers 45.7% of the country, principally the north and west. The main Amazon river system is the Amazonas-Solimões-Ucayali axis (the -long Ucayali is a Peruvian tributary), flowing from west to east. Through the Amazon Basin"
"course to the Atlantic Ocean. In 2001, it was verified that the main headwater of the Amazon River has its glacial source on the Mismi. An expedition of the National Geographic Society discovered that the Qarwasanta stream flowing into Apurímac River originates on the northern slopes of the mountain and then runs its course through other tributaries and rivers to help form the main Amazon River. Brazilian scientists in 2007 confirmed that the headwaters of Apurímac River are the source of the Amazon River was, and pointed at Mismi as the most probable source of the Amazon. Mismi Mismi is"
"flows one-fifth of the world's fresh water. A total of of the Amazon are in Brazilian territory. Over this distance, the waters decline only about . The major tributaries on the southern side are, from west to east, the Javari, Juruá, Purus (all three of which flow into the western section of the Amazon called the Solimões), Madeira, Tapajós, Xingu, and Tocantins. On the northern side, the largest tributaries are the Branco, Japurá, Jari, and Rio Negro. The above-mentioned tributaries carry more water than the Mississippi (its discharge is less than one-tenth that of the Amazon). The Amazon and some"
"Tocantins-Araguaia-Maranhão moist forests The Tocantins-Araguaia-Maranhão moist forests (NT0170), also called the Tocantins/Pindaré moist forests, is an ecoregion in the north of Brazil to the south of the mouth of the Amazon River. It is part of the Amazon biome. The ecoregion contains the city of Belém, capital of the state of Pará. It is the most developed part of the Amazon region, and is one of the most severely degraded natural habitats of the region. The Tocantins-Araguaia-Maranhão Moist Forests ecoregion is the most eastern of the Amazon region. It covers the east of the state of Pará and the north"
"Amazon basin, the Orinoco region, and French Guiana. Being a hunter of water edges for frogs, crabs, snakes, small mammals, etc., its main range is in a wide corridor along the main course of the Amazon River in the central Amazon basin. This corridor is about 700 km wide, and includes the confluence areas downstream of the major rivers: Rio Negro, Madeira, Tapajós, Xingu, and the outlet section of the Tocantins River in the southeast Basin's neighbouring river system, Araguaia-Tocantins. The upstream range widens into the southwestern and northwestern Basin to the Andean foothills, and from the south includes northern"
"the Mantaro. Explorers and scholars have identified each of the three rivers as being the source of the Amazon under one of the three definitions. The Mantaro is the most distant upstream point; the Maraňón is the main stem of the Amazon; and the Apurímac is the most distant source with an uninterrupted flow of water. The Amazon River is the largest river in the world in terms of its discharge into the Atlantic Ocean and either the longest or second longest river in the world, contending with the Nile River for that honor. More than from its mouth, upstream"
"Marañón River The Marañón River (, ) is the principal or mainstem source of the Amazon River, arising about 160 km to the northeast of Lima, Peru, and flowing through a deeply eroded Andean valley in a northwesterly direction, along the eastern base of the Cordillera of the Andes, as far as 5° 36′ southern latitude; from where it makes a great bend to the northeast, and cuts through the jungle Andes, until at the Pongo de Manseriche it flows into the flat Amazon basin. Although historically, the term ""Marañon River"" often was applied to the river all the way"
"Puerto Maldonado Puerto Maldonado () is a city in southeastern Peru in the Amazon rainforest west of the Bolivian border; located at the confluence of the Tambopata and Madre de Dios rivers, the latter of which joins the Madeira River as a tributary of the Amazon. It is the capital of the Madre de Dios Region. Nearby are the Manú National Park, Tambopata National Reserve, and Bahuaja-Sonene National Park, which have been established to protect natural resources. These are some of the most pristine primary rain forests in the world. They include several oxbow lakes and clay licks, where hundreds"
"Rio Negro (Amazon) The Rio Negro ( ; """"Black River"""") is the largest left tributary of the Amazon River, the largest blackwater river in the world (accounting for about 14% of the water in the Amazon basin), and one of the world's ten largest rivers by average discharge. The source of the Rio Negro lies in Colombia, in the Department of Guainía where the river is known as ""Guainía River"". The young river generally flows in an east-northeasterly direction through the Puinawai National Reserve, passing several small indigenous settlements on its way, such as Cuarinuma, Brujas, Santa Rosa and Tabaquén."
"Solimões River Solimões () is the name often given to upper stretches of the Amazon River in Brazil from its confluence with the Rio Negro upstream to the border of Peru. At the confluence, the river is already by far the largest river in the world, even though its two largest tributaries have not yet entered (the Negro and the Madeira River). The Solimões portion of the Amazon river lies entirely in the State of Amazonas, Brazil, and some portion of the state is often referred to as the ""Solimões region"". The ecoregion of the Solimões river drainage basin is"
"the Amazon's Madeira River; in Bolivia's northeast it is only on the headwaters of the Guapore, (on the Brazil-Bolivia border), but not on downstream sections, that flow into the Madeira. Northwest of the Amazon Basin the continuous range extends into central and northeastern Colombia. In southeastern Venezuela, the cinnamon attila range occurs on the upper Orinoco River drainage; it continues into eastern and northeastern Venezuela and the Guianas, avoiding only the central Orinoco. Its range stays contiguous along the Caribbean coast through the Guianas and only ends south and southeast of the Amazon River outlet with Marajo Island, and the"
"a line of low bluffs bordering the floodplain extends nearly to Santarém in a series of gentle curves before they bend to the southwest, and, abutting upon the lower Tapajós, merge into the bluffs which form the terrace margin of the Tapajós river valley. Belém is the major city and port at the mouth of the river at the Atlantic Ocean. The definition of where exactly the mouth of the Amazon is located, and how wide it is, is a matter of dispute, because of the area's peculiar geography. The Pará and the Amazon are connected by a series of"
". In 1951 and 1952, two Englishmen, Sebastian Snow and John Brown, joined an expedition to confirm the source of the Amazon. Finding their way to Lake Lauricocha, they found a stream flowing into the lake which they followed through the Raura silver mine to a small glacier-fed lake, called Niñococha, in the Raura mountain range. They declared Niňococha the source of the Amazon. Starting at the lake, Snow descended the Amazon River all the way to its mouth in the Atlantic Ocean. Lake Nińococha is located at -10.458 Latitude and -76.764 Longitude at an elevation of . Attention turned"
"Baños de Agua Santa Baños de Agua Santa (), commonly referred to as Baños, is a city in eastern Tungurahua Province, in central Ecuador. Baños is the second most populous city in Tungurahua, after Ambato, the capital, and is a major tourist center. It is known as the ""Gateway to the Amazon"", as it's the last big city still located in the mountains before reaching the jungle and other towns that are located in the Amazon River basin. Baños is located at an elevation of 1,820 metres (5,971 feet) on the northern foothills of the Tungurahua volcano, whose activity has"
"river channels called ""furos"" near the town of Breves; between them lies Marajó, the world's largest combined river/sea island. If the Pará river and the Marajó island ocean frontage are included, the Amazon estuary is some wide. In this case, the width of the mouth of the river is usually measured from Cabo Norte, the cape located straight east of Pracuúba in the Brazilian state of Amapá, to Ponta da Tijoca near the town of Curuçá, in the state of Pará. A more conservative measurement excluding the Pará river estuary, from the mouth of the Araguari River to Ponta do"
"basin in Brazil alone is larger than any other river's basin. The Amazon enters Brazil with only one-fifth of the flow it finally discharges into the Atlantic Ocean, yet already has a greater flow at this point than the discharge of any other river. The river was initially known by Europeans as the Marañón and the Peruvian part of the river is still known by that name today. It later became known as the Rio Amazonas in Spanish and Portuguese, or The Amazon in English. The name Rio Amazonas was given after native warriors attacked a 16th-century expedition by Francisco"
"basin has an elongated shape with a WSW-ENE orientation. It long axis runs from the vicinity of Manaus to the area near the confluence of Xingu River with the Amazon River. Amazon Basin (sedimentary basin) The Amazon Basin is a major large sedimentary basin located roughly at the middle and lower course of the Amazon River, south the Guiana Shield and north of the Central Brazilian Shield. It is bound to the west by the Púrus Arch, separating the Amazon Basin from the Solimões Basin and in the east by the Gurupá Arch, separating the basin from the Marajó Basin."
"portion of the Amazon basin in 1850 was perhaps 300,000, of whom about two-thirds were Europeans and slaves, the slaves amounting to about 25,000. The Brazilian Amazon's principal commercial city, Pará (now Belém), had from 10,000 to 12,000 inhabitants, including slaves. The town of Manáos, now Manaus, at the mouth of the Rio Negro, had a population between 1,000 and 1,500. All the remaining villages, as far up as Tabatinga, on the Brazilian frontier of Peru, were relatively small. On 6 September 1850, Emperor Pedro II of Brazil sanctioned a law authorizing steam navigation on the Amazon and gave the"
"and Crenarchaeota. The Amazon has over 1,100 tributaries, 12 of which are over long. Some of the more notable ones are: Amazon River The Amazon River (, ; Spanish and ) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and by some definitions it is the longest. The headwaters of the Apurímac River on Nevado Mismi had been considered for nearly a century as the Amazon's most distant source, until a 2014 study found it to be the Cordillera Rumi Cruz at the headwaters of the Mantaro River in Peru. The Mantaro and"